Pilin' On Palin - Democratic Underground

NanceGreggs

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Thu Nov-19-09 12:40 AM
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Pilin' On Palin

Edited on Thu Nov-19-09 01:01 AM by NanceGreggs

Being the week of the official launch of Sarah Palin’s book, it is an opportune time to step back and analyze why this woman has attracted, although not unsurprisingly, the kind of scorn usually reserved for – well, for people who can’t put two coherent sentences together, but “write” books nonetheless.

Perhaps it is simply this: Sarah Palin personifies all that is wrong with a political system that allows for anyone so obviously incompetent to rise within its ranks, a political party so devoid of circumspection it would not merely allow such a person to come within a heartbeat of the presidency, but would actively support her pursuit of same, and a citizenry so bereft of insight so as to actually encourage and applaud her political aspirations.

The evidence is more than plentiful. Palin is as ill-informed as it is possible to be in today’s environment of easily-accessible information. She is an unethical hypocrite who lacks any empathy for her fellow citizens, who has often used her political clout as a means to destroy her perceived enemies and enrich herself financially, a woman who has no qualms about reducing her own children to mere props when it is politically expedient.

There is no doubt in this writer’s mind that Palin’s rise in popularity among the intellectually impaired was a natural follow-up to the G.W. Bush years, when the road to a form of political insanity was paved – a time when abject stupidity was passed off as down home charm, ignorance of world events was accepted as a sign of being just simple folk, and stubbornness and an incapacity to admit mistakes was lauded as strength of character and commitment to whatever the most recent poll results defined as American ideals.

But Palin, unbelievably it would seem, took up the torch of Olympian stupidity and not only ran with it, but managed to go the distance – not to the White House, but undeniably far beyond the fifteen minutes of fame usually relegated to those whose every utterance results in a self-inflicted slap-to-the-head and an incredulous cry of no, really, you’ve got to be fuckin’ kiddin’ me.

Even W, in his glory days, never went so far as to proffer the ability to see Russia from one’s front porch as experience in international affairs – perhaps a testament to his handlers who knew where to draw the line of incredulity; maybe just an opportunity missed due to never having attained the true maverickitude that would allow for making such outlandish statements and expecting them to be not only believed, but embraced.

Of course, W also lacked something that Sarah has in spades – her talent for playing the role of the persecuted victim, a part that is still deemed unacceptable for those of the male persuasion. In other words, if W had been endowed with Sarah’s tits, he could have persuaded a lot more of the populace that his detractors were not merely unpatriotic observers who pointed to his ineptitude, but die-hard conspirators out to silence the very voice of reasoned democracy – and, in the doing, sought to besmirch the good name of a fair maiden deserving of more genteel treatment. Simply put, W, by virtue of his gender, couldn’t play girl (although there are some of us who think he did a damned fine job trying), while Sarah d’Arc can throw herself on the pyre of persecution at a moment’s notice, and field dress a moose on her way to the conflagration.

Palin, to her credit – or the discredit of the loyalists who cling to her – never allows anything to stand in her way: not the truth, not the facts, not current events as they play themselves out, not history as it is known to have unfolded. Saucy Sarah simply creates her own reality – replete with things that never happened, or happened to the contrary of how she spins the tale – and smiles into the camera as her small-but-idolizing group of fans swoon to her rendition not of how things were or are, but how they are perceived in her own narrow little world.

Make no mistake. I come to bury Palin, not to praise her – nor even suggest that she deserves a modicum of sympathy or a minute’s respite from the well-deserved pilin’ on she is being subjected to.

As the personification of a political image created by half-truths and out-and-out lies, coupled with creative embellishment of questionable skills and accomplishments and ignorance that is not only blissful but a source of blatant pride – all neatly packaged in smoke-and-mirrors, a party-funded wardrobe, and presented to the world as the real deal – Sarah has come to represent all that is abhorrent in today’s political landscape, and deserves to be treated accordingly.

However, there is something truly pitiable about a woman whose claims-to-fame are, in the greater scheme of things, unremarkable at best – and, at worst, completely fabricated out of whole cloth. To hear her minions tell it, Sarah is the only woman to have given birth to a special-needs child, to have “dealt with” a teen-aged daughter’s pregnancy, to have smilingly survived the slings-and-arrows of a media that had the audacity to actually ask questions and expect a few answers.

To me, Sarah Palin is that guest at a dinner party who was invited only to balance the seating arrangements when it was realized that the party was one female short, and somehow convinced herself that she was wanted – that she was included because of her scintillating personality, her legendary wit, and her talent for initiating intelligent conversation.

Unfortunately for Sarah, she took these “truths” about herself to be self-evident, while the rest of the country, and the world, saw her for what she was – a shallow, vain, inept opportunist too wrapped up in her own ego to notice that she’d served her purpose the minute she accepted the GOP vice presidential nomination as the proud owner of a vagina – no further credentials necessary.

However, life being as full of irony as it often is, Sarah went on to become much more than the dumb broad from central casting, who played her role and caught the next train for her hometown, scrapbook in hand, ensconced in memories of a short-lived but much publicized cinematic career. She is now the face of everything the Republican Party wants us to forget its association with: right-wing religious extremists, lying hypocrites, ignorant-and-proud-of-it spokespeople who so obviously have less than nothing to say.

And.Now.She.Has.A.Book. And the media is eating it up with all the fervour reserved for other stories of equal substance – like an alleged boy allegedly set aloft in an alleged balloon.

All of this being said, I just want to add: “Congratulations on your new book, Sarah!”

I stand in awe of your ability to make a faux-silk, knock-off ‘designer’ purse out of the proverbial sow’s ear – and I applaud your contribution to the success of the Party – not yours, but mine.

You betcha!